Origins Of Psychology

Question 1

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)

Answer 1

• Wrote first textbook of psychology (Principles of Physiological Psychology, 1873-4)
• He opened the first Psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, in 1879 and established psychology as a separate discipline in its own right.

Showed that introspection could be used to study mental states in replicable
laboratory experiments

Question 2

Introspection

Answer 2

Wundt was interested in conscious experience and he trained himself and others to describe their experiences through Introspection. Before Wundt, introspection had been used by philosophers for studying how new ideas are created.
Introspection refers to the systematic process of observing and examining your own conscious thoughts or emotions in response to a stimuli. An experience was analysed in terms of its component parts e.g. sensations, emotional reaction etc. Wundt strictly controlled the environments where introspection took place.
• Used the scientific method to study the structure of sensation and perception
• Showed that introspection could be used to study mental states in replicable
laboratory experiments
In Wundt’s lab, highly trained participants known as “observers” were presented with
carefully controlled sensory events. These individuals were asked to describe their mental
experiences of these events. Wundt believed that the observers needed to be in a state
of high attention to the stimulus and in control of the situation. The observations were also
replicated a numerous times.